The Padres could have rationalized until they were Dodger Blue in the face, saying it's a long season and the schedule was only one weekend old and all that, and they'd have been absolutely correct in doing so. No need, as it turned out. Still, there was no small sense of relief that with their 8-4 win on Easter, they didn't send the Dodgers off with a sweep of the season-opening series at Petco Park.

"We averted a disaster," said third baseman Chase Headley. "You lose the first four, you really put yourself behind the eight-ball."

The Padres might've done it without Headley's first hit of the season -- a no-out, grand slam in the bottom of the eighth that he seemed to have waited all winter to hit -- but it sure removed any question that starting pitcher Clayton Richard's own "first" would stand as the Padres' first win. Richard, who hadn't thrown a real game since undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder last July, was the picture of pitching health as he two-hit the Dodgers over seven innings.

"It was fun," said Richard. "Winning baseball games is fun."

Eighty-three pitches, Richard threw, 61 of them strikes. He was the model of efficiency, aggressive, not giving the Dodgers much to work with and denying them any earned runs. Even with Matt Kemp's two-run homer in the sixth.

"Their order is extremely talented," said Richard. "You don't want to fall behind them in the count. With quality strikes early in the count, hopefully, you get them to put a ball in play. A lot of those guys, the more pitches they see, the better they hit."

Before he’d given up a hit, Richard had allowed only two base runners, both on his own fielding errors. Richard overthrew first on Dee Gordon’s fourth-inning come-backer, then muffed Yonder Alonso’s flip while covering first on Andre Ethier’s grounder, that right before Juan Uribe’s single into right in the fifth.

"Just knowing the work you put into (defense), preparing yourself to make those plays and then they don't happen, it's frustrating." said Richard. "It's something I'll continually do and try to get better at. It's one of those things, like a home run or a walk you give up. You write it down afterward as something you've got to keep working on. But during the game, you have to move on."

Aaron Harang has moved on from his hometown of San Diego -- where he was the Padres' starting pitching in their home opener a year ago -- to Los Angeles. The Padres greeted him back with two runs in the first and solo runs in both the third and fourth.

Harang opened the bottom of the first by drilling Padres leadoff Cameron Maybin with a pitch, then issued the first of three walks on the game to Headley. Maybin scored on Jesus Guzman’s single, Headley on Yonder Alonso’s sacrifice fly.

Lefty-hitting catcher John Baker got his first start and first RBI for the Padres, flaring an opposite-field single to score Guzman in the third, and rookie infielder Andy Parrino followed his five Cactus League home runs with a solo shot into the Padres bullpen in the fourth.

Another error – Will Venable’s drop of a fly ball in right, the eighth San Diego error in four games – led to Kemp’s homer just over Maybin's glove and the wall in center. L.A. got another homer from Ethier off Ernesto Frieri in the ninth.

The Padres are off Monday, then resume the homestand Tuesday with the first of three games against the Arizona Diamondbacks, defending champions of the NL West Division.